I just switched to DirecTV when I moved last month. The installation didnt go very smoothly...they kept sending people who did not bring a ladder for a 2-story house. Also, if you sign up for the service, you need to ask about HDTV if you are interested...HD takes a different dish, a different receiver box, and a different DVR (Tivo) unit....and it's their policy not to ask if you need HD! Idiots!
However, once all was up and running, I've learned to like the service a LOT and it took a couple days to learn how to Tivo but I've quickly learned to love it! The picture quality of a Tivo program is so much better than VCR. BTW, Tivo takes TWO cables from the signal amplifier to your box if you want to watch one thing while taping another.
All this is to say that DirecTV seems to include a lot more programming in the various packages that TimeWarner did in comparable packages. For example, TW gave me ONE Fox Sports South feed, which meant that they would let me watch the Preds only if the Grizzlies weren't on. On DirectV, I get the FSS feed, plus a Grizzlies game if on, plus a Preds game if on, so it's like getting THREE FSS feeds, and I don't even have the special sports tier.